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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. chest — a box
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. dip — to sink
  10. content — the amount
  11. shower — rain
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. shower — to wash
  14. row — a line
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. row — to paddle
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. chest — of your body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bat — the animal
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. content — happy
  24. coach — a trainer

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com